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by TaleeCat
Summary: Brittany is a stable hand, Santana the privileged girl who admires her from afar. Can Brittany gentle Santana or will Santana's secrets send Brittany running?


**A/N:** This is my first Brittana fic, but certainly not my first fanfiction. I am in love with these characters and I hope you feel that I've done them justice. Constructive criticism is always welcome and I'd love to read your reviews! Thanks so much, enjoy!

**Chapter One:**

The white car door slammed shut, followed by the tell-tale chirp as the doors were locked from the remote clenched in the girl's hands. She angrily shoved them in the pocket of her bag so she wouldn't lose them. Her riding boots clicked loudly on the cement as she followed the sidewalk to the closest barn. It was also the biggest. The top horses were in this barn, so naturally that was where Santana Lopez boarded her babies. She remembered having to fight with her dad about getting them the biggest stalls available but luckily her mom backed her up on that one. Not because she shared Santana's concern that her dear horses needed the room. Her mother was solely excited about having the best of the best.

The brunette took a deep breath as she entered the barn. The sweet scent of grain and Laser Sheen greeted her as she walked down the wide aisle. Halfway down, two heads popped out of the stall as she approached. Santana smiled when the blacker face whinnied at her. She was still fuming about her latest argument with her mother but she wouldn't let that ruin her ride today.

"Hello boys, you'll never guess what the wicked witch of the west did this time..."

She reached out her small hands to rub each of their velvet noses with a sigh. "I don't get why it's so hard for her to just support me." She knew they were horses but she always felt like she could tell them anything and that they would always really listen. That was more than she could say about a lot of people.

She gave her boys a few treats before putting her bag in the little room beside their stalls that held all of her tack and supplies, trying to decide who she would take out today. Quinn had told her a hundred times that she just needed to hire someone to exercise her horses for her. Santana knew she should but she hated the idea of anyone riding them but her. She didn't want anyone to teach them bad habits or yank too hard on their bit or forget to give them their treat after a hard routine. Not wanting Quinn to know how much of a softy she truly was, Santana claimed she just didn't want anyone fucking up their expensive training.

Grabbing the smaller jumping saddle, Santana decided on Jack. She'd spent the last few days on a hardcore dressage routine with Johnny and she knew that Jack was getting jealous every time she led the buckskin out of his stall instead of him. She smiled at the image while she grabbed Jack's bridal and looped it over her shoulder so she could grab her grooming bucket. Santana knew a lot of people here that would have the grooms do all the work for them, but she found the process to be one of the best parts. She loved standing next to her boys, watching the dirt fly from their sleek coats as she dusted them off with a brush.

Santana set the tack on the stand outside of Jack's stall and set the bucket down as well before grabbing his halter and lead off its hook and sliding open the door to Jack's stall. He nickered happily at her and she quickly slipped the halter over his head, fastening the buckle on his cheek before leading him out and clipping him to the cross-ties so she could groom him.

Brittany sang softly under her breath as she reorganized the three lead ropes in her hand. Two in her right, one in her left. She knew the green one was for Tarzan, the purple for Elinor, and the red for Henri. She glanced over her right shoulder to make sure that Elinor and Henri were getting along. Henri was a flirt sometimes and Elinor didn't always appreciate that. Luckily, it looked like Elinor was enjoying the attention today and was even giving Tarzan some pretty flirty glances. Brittany giggled and leaned in conspiratorially to the buckskin mare to stage whisper.

"Get it girl!"

She reached for the latch to open the paddock gate. All three horses followed her in and politely waited while she shut the gate behind them. She quickly snapped off their lead ropes from each of their halters so they could go play in the large field. The blond watched them frolic for a few moments before she coiled their ropes and hung them on the gate as she made her way back to the lesson barn. There were about half a dozen horses that were solely used for lessons. One of Brittany's jobs was to exercise the ones that weren't used as often and to keep them finely tuned for their customers. There was another, formal trainer that worked with them as well, but Brittany took most of the responsibilities upon herself.

Now it was time for her favourite baby. Joker was a huge, palomino gelding that Brittany held closest to her heart. She loved his giant head and blond locks that matched her own so well. She bounced a little in her excitement and hurriedly pulled open his stall. The large horse turned his head to glance at her and quickly turned around to bump his forehead into her chest in greeting.

"Hi Joker! You ready boy?"

She already had his halter over his head and led him out to groom him and tack him up. She wanted to get in a good ride today, the sunshine was so perfect!

Santana fastened her helmet under her chin before slipping her foot into the stirrup and vaulting smoothly onto Jack's back. She gathered her reins and gently steered him towards the rail of the arena, asking him for a nice, collected trot as they reached it. Santana let the big, black gelding warm up a few minutes before asking him to canter at the next turn. She relaxed into her seat, following the rhythm of his long strides, turning him towards the first set of jumps. She was confident that he would clear them as they were shorter jumps, and she leaned forward easily as he soared over them. Her chest always felt tight and full of pride and excitement whenever she jumped and the feeling filled her as she went through the familiar pattern.

As Santana pulled Jack back into a calm walk around the arena, a fluttering of gold caught her eye. Knowing immediately who it was, Santana dropped her gaze to settle between Jack's ears, trying to tell her heart to stop beating so fast. Santana had seen her a hundred times before but it never failed to catch her off guard. The blond was beautiful and watching her ride was almost heartbreaking. She just blended into the horse, speaking so softly and moving so gently, you'd think the horse and rider were reading each others minds.

The blond was on that palomino again. He must be her favourite. Santana knew the girl was a stable hand. Her clothes were well worn and she was always working with the school horses. Following the strict rules of her parents' hierarchy, Santana had never spoken to her. She had no need. Santana always took lessons on her own horses and always from the top trainers the barn had to offer. Maybe she really should think about hiring someone to ride Jack and Johnny when she was too busy... She quickly shut down that line of thought. Quinn would laugh hysterically if Santana told her she'd finally broken down and hired someone, only for it to be a random, poor stable girl.

But look at her hands! They're so gentle and calm. Santana found herself smirking as her imagination presented her with several lovely images of what else the girl could do with her hands. She had to admit that she often thought of the tall blond in compromising positions.

With a start, Santana realized that she had been staring and Jack, being the well trained and sensitive horse that he was, had plotted his path towards her line of sight. Santana quickly straightened in her seat, accidentally jerking on the reins and causing Jack to take a big step sideways in confusion. Santana felt her breath catch in her throat as the blond glanced over her shoulder at the horse and his rider that were suddenly right behind her. The girl smiled brightly, guessing that it was an accident.

"I guess we're all feeling a little frisky today!"

She threw her sing song comment over her shoulder at Santana before facing forward again and urged the palomino on gently until he picked up his pace into a smooth canter.

"If only you knew."

Santana muttered darkly under her breath, deciding that she needed to get out of there and fast. She really did not need Quinn, or worse Analise, finding out about this. She'd never hear the end of it. Leaning sharply to her left, she circled Jack tightly towards the riding block so she could dismount and get the hell away from those piercing blue eyes.

Of course, Jack chose today to be a little shit and refused to step up beside the block. Santana could dismount without it but she didn't want to look any more foolish in front of the stable girl. She nudged her black horse in the ribs a little firmer.

"C'mon Jack. Today is not the day!"

She growled through gritted teeth as he swiveled his hindquarters around again, avoiding the blue block of plastic stairs. Santana focused on his feet and the block, trying to get him to step back around again to the block. She looked up sharply when he smoothly stepped forward and into place, also feeling the slight tug against her reins.

"Oh." Of course it was the blond, gently holding the base of Jack's reins and pulling him forward. Naturally, the blond was still seated on the palomino and he was listening to her perfectly as she maneuvered him around so she could get Jack up next to the block. Santana forced herself not to blush in embarrassment and frustration as she slid out of the saddle as quickly as she could. She tossed the reins over Jack's tall head and risked a glance into Brittany's eyes as she took the reins from her hand.

"I could have handled it." Her words were cold and she scowled just slightly at the pretty blond. She was just smiling patiently and that irritated Santana even more.

"Don't you know how to mind your own business?"

That worked, Santana noted, as the other girl's smile fell instantly. Santana unsnapped the helmet and yanked it from her head, tucking it under her arm as she led Jack away in a hurry. She tried to contain her fuming. Why did the girl have to butt in like that? Santana knew her horse better than anyone and she fucking hated it when anyone tried to tell her how to do things! She didn't have all of those blue ribbons for nothing!

Brittany chewed at her bottom lip anxiously. She was just trying to be nice to the pretty girl. She didn't think the brunette would be mad about getting help. Tarzan was always coming up with new ways to avoid the mounting block so Brittany had a lot of fabulous ideas on how to help the other girl break her gelding's bad habit. Apparently the pretty girl was having a bad day though because she had definitely been snippy.

Brittany replayed their shared scenes over again in her head, trying to figure out what she had said to upset her so much. She kept mulling it over as she finished her ride with Joker. He was super good considering she wasn't giving him nearly the attention and effort he deserved. Then she started feeling bad about that too, so she decided to call it quits for the day. She wasn't doing anyone any favors today.

Brittany was walking Joker back to his stall when she caught a glimpse of the pretty girl storming off to her expensive hybrid SUV. Brittany paused, watching as the brunette tossed her bag into the passenger seat and started the very expensive looking car. She caught Brittany staring at her and quickly broke the somehow intense eye contact by sliding her sunglasses onto her face. Santana glanced into the rear view mirror to make sure she wouldn't hit anything as she quickly backed out of her parking spot and sped away.

Letting out a sigh, Brittany led Joker back towards the barn, still trying to piece together her encounter with the feisty brunette. She would apologize to her tomorrow she decided. She hated when people didn't like her and she didn't want the shorter girl to be angry with her when Brittany still wasn't sure what she had done wrong. Maybe she'd bring some treats for the jet black gelding. Oh! And pie! She had been thinking about making some of her Gammie Lou's famous raspberry pie for a few days now and this would be the perfect thing to give the girl as an apology. Brittany smiled brightly, already planning what she would say to the beautiful girl tomorrow.


End file.
